Background to this inspection
Updated
5 July 2019
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
One adult social care inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection it was providing care and support to 48 adults and seven children.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit to be sure the registered manager, staff and people they supported would be available to speak with us.
Inspection activity started on 3 June 2019 and ended on 12 June 2019. We visited the office location on 4 June 2019.
What we did before the inspection:
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection:
We spoke with 18 people who used the service and five relatives on the telephone about their experience of the care provided. We visited the office location and spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, care co-ordinators, senior care workers, office staff and care workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
Updated
5 July 2019
About the service:
Crossroads Care Greater Manchester is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to adults and children who live in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 48 adults and seven children.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found:
People continued to receive a consistently good service and felt safe with the support they received from the staff.
Staff were reliable, caring and professional in their approach to their work.
People and staff spoke of the registered manager's and senior staff team’s commitment to provide a high quality of service. One relative told us, “The agency are excellent all round. Staff are genuinely caring." Another person told us, “Crossroads provide a 5 star service with continuity that is essential to my relative's needs.”
The service assessed people's needs in partnership with them to help ensure they received appropriate care that was person-centred.
The service worked in close partnership with healthcare professionals and families to ensure people’s health care needs were met. We received positive feedback from healthcare and training professionals about the service provided and the open nature of the management team.
People were safeguarded against the risks of abuse and harm by the systems and by the staff training in place. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated.
When incidents took place, the provider reflected on events to help reduce the risk of these happening again.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Staff had access to a comprehensive training programme developed by the company. Staffing levels were continuously reviewed to ensure there were enough staff to provide reliable, flexible and responsive care.
They worked in partnership and proactively with other organisations. This was demonstrated by the innovative Carers Link scheme set up by the provider to give unpaid carers support and a break from their caring role.
The service continued to be well-led and benefitted from clear and consistent leadership. The registered manager had improved consistency across all the offices the provider ran to ensure the quality of the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
The last rating for this service was good (published 6 December 2016).
Why we inspected:
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.